According to an excellent article in today's Post-Dispatch, the owners of the company -- brothers Darian and Cory Atkinson -- each borrowed tens of millions of dollars from the firm to fund their lavish lifestyles. For example, US Fidelis paid the mortgage and other costs for Darian Atkinson's outrageous, $17-million home in Lake St. Louis.

Reports the Post-Dispatch:

Company President Darain Atkinson, 45, owes the company $28.2 million;
and Vice President Cory Atkinson, 40, owes $20.5 million. It's not clear
whether those amounts are separate from each brother's $25,000 weekly
draw or the large disbursements made to keep them in comfort.

The company paid $445,283 to a high-end home furnisher in Truckee,
Calif., the Lake Tahoe resort community where Cory Atkinson owns a
4,695-square-foot home he bought in 2008 for $2.9 million.

Often, the company simply provided cash. Darain Atkinson got $500,000 on
April 30; Cory Atkinson received the same amount as a cash advance on
May 8.

Meanwhile, the brothers also spent lavishly on the company's Wentzville office that recently employed 1,100 people but not has just over 100 workers. Those purchases included a custom rug with the US Fidelis logo and a "cash machine" (see video below) in which top-selling agents could enter and grab as much money as possible.

Among US Fidelis' creditors are NASCAR racer Rusty Wallace who's owed more than $500,000 for a sponsorship deal and former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft who's owed more than $600,000 for legal services to the company.